Chapter C

1And in those days
1
Gk.m ‘And then’ (remainder of verse severely damaged).
in one place fathers and sons will strike one another, and brothers will together fall in death until there flows of their
blood as it were a stream. 2For a man will not in mercy
2
in mercy: GGaMQD′Gk.m om.
withhold his hand from his sons, nor from his sons' sons,
3
GMT ‘sons, nor from his son's son’; GaQ corrupt; Gk.m ‘son, nor from his beloved’.
in order to kill them, and the sinner will not withhold his hand from his honoured brother;
4
and the sinner … brother: Gk.m ‘and the sinner from the honoured man, nor from his brother’.
from dawn until the sun sets they will kill one another.
5
Gk.m ‘they will be killed together’.
3And the horse will walk up to its chest in the blood of sinners, and the chariot will sink up to its height.
6
Gk.m ‘sink down to its axles’; GGaQTD′ corrupt.
4And in those days
7
Gk.m ‘And on that day’.
the angels will come down
8
Gk.m adds ‘descending’.
into the hidden places and gather together in one place all those who have helped
9
GGaMQ ‘who brought down’.
sin,
10
and gather … sin: Gk.m uncertain, but apparently ‘〈and〉 those who have helped unrighteousness will be gathered together
into one place’.
and the Most High will rise on that day
11
(G)Ga(M)Q(D′) ‘on that day of judgement’; Gk.m ‘on the day of judgement’.
to execute the great judgement on all the sinners.
12
GGaMQ ‘amongst the sinners’; Gk.m ‘on all’.
5And he will set guards from the holy angels over all the righteous and holy, and they will guard them
13
Gk.m ‘will be guarded’.
like the apple of an eye until an end is made of
14
GGaMQ2 ‘he makes an end of’.
all evil and all sin;
15
Gk.m ‘until evils and sin come to an end’.
and even if the righteous sleep a long sleep, they have nothing to fear.
16
Gk.m ‘and from that time the pious will sleep a sweet sleep, and there will no longer be anyone to make them afraid’.
6And the wise men will see the truth,
17
the truth: so (Q)T Eth.II; GGaMD′ unintelligible.
and the sons of the earth will understand all the words of this book,
18
Gk.m ‘Then the wise among men will see, and the sons of the earth will pay attention to these words of this epistle’.
and they will know that their riches will not be able to save them in the overthrow of their sin.
19
Gk.m ‘of unrighteousness’.
7Woe to you, you sinners, when you afflict the righteous on the day of severe trouble and burn
20
Q ‘save’; Gk.m ‘keep’, but probably corrupt for ‘burn’.
them with fire;
21
Gk.m adds ‘for’.
you will be repaid according to your deeds. 8Woe to you, you perverse of heart,
22
GGaMQTD′ Gk.m ‘you stubborn of heart’.
who watch to devise evil; fear will come upon you, and there is no one who will help you. 9Woe to you, you sinners,
23
Gk.m ‘all you sinners’.
for
24
GMQTD′ Gk.m om.
on account of the words of your mouth, and on account of the deeds of your hands which you have impiously done,
25
which you … done: GM ‘which your impiety has wrought’; GaQ ‘which are the works of your impiety’; TD′ ‘because of the
works of your impiety’; Gk.m ‘for you [have] gone astray 〈from〉 holy deeds’ (remainder of verse 9, verse 10, and majority
of verse 11, severely damaged).
you will burn in blazing flames of fire. 10And now know that the angels will inquire in heaven
26
GGaMQTD′ ‘that from the angels he will inquire in heaven (G ‘from heaven’)’.
into your deeds from
27
GGaMQTD′ ‘and from’.
the sun and the moon and the stars, that is into your sins, for on earth you execute judgement on the righteous. 11And all the clouds and mist and dew and rain will testify against you,
28
And all … against you: so G(Ga)QD′P2; other Eth. MSS ‘And he will call to testify against you all the clouds and mist
and dew and rain’.
for they will all be withheld from you so that they do not fall on you, and they will think
29
and they will think: so GQY; Ga defective; TB ‘and they will not be’; other Eth. MSS ‘and they will not think’.
about your sins. 12And now
30
Gk.m ‘Therefore’.
give gifts to the rain that it may not be withheld from falling on you, and that the dew, if it has accepted gold and silver
from you, may fall.
31
and that … may fall: so Eth. (MQ ‘may not fall’; some Eth.II MSS om. ‘that’ and ‘may fall’); Gk.m uncertain, apparently
‘and to the dew and [clouds] and mist; pay gold that they may fall’.
13When
32
Gk.m ‘For if’.
hoar-frost and snow with their cold and all the snow-winds with all their torments fall on you, in those days
33
in those days: Gk.m om.
you will not be able to stand before them.
34
Gk.m ‘before cold and their torments’.